Many students entered the Communications honor society in a May 13 ceremony.
More than 60 new members were inducted into the Elon University School of Communications chapter of Lambda Pi Eta at a May 13 ceremony in McKinnon Hall.
Adviser and Communications associate department chair Frances Ward-Johnson introduced chapter president Hannah Nelson and her fellow officers Jacob Selzer, Kristen Greene, Alex Zubak and Gretchen Cundiff. They led all new LPE students through the induction ritual. Of the 63 who were inducted, 54 were on hand for the ceremony.
Keynote speaker David Copeland, the School of Communications A.J. Fletcher Professor and graduate program director, implored students to maintain a curious and inquisitive mind long into their future careers. He suggested that asking questions and challenging truths is how people and society continue to learn and advance.
“You are definitely not what is commonly referred to as an average American,” Copeland said. “You’re way above average. And you have at your disposal access to the collected wisdom of humankind. You also have at your disposal some of the most inaccurate information and some of the most worthless stuff imaginable. Did you know that Kim Kardashian has 17 million followers on Twitter? 17 million?
“You need not accept so readily information without questioning things. And that’s the big point of all this: You should always want to determine if what you’re told in class, read online, anywhere, the things that you view are accurate. You have the power at your grasp to uncover amazing things. You want to be media professionals, so you have the ability to share, and to share accurately and positively all that’s uncovered as our body of knowledge continues to grow and enlighten us.”
At the end of the ceremony, the new LPE officers were announced. Zubak will become president, and Baron Smith will serve as vice president. Kara Malone was named secretary, Kendall Quinn will be the scholarship chair and Grace Martin will serve as event coordinator.
Senior journalism major Julie Morse and senior media arts & entertainment major David Tregde were named the winners of the Senior Scholarship Award. Both Morse and Tregde have also received awards from the School of Communications. Morse won this year’s Outstanding Senior in Broadcast Journalism honor, and Tregde received the James Wesley Willard II Memorial Scholarship in 2012.
The Elon chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, an organization affiliated with the National Communication Association, got its start in 1998. Any School of Communications student is eligible for membership when he or she has completed at least 60 hours of university credit, with at least 12 of those hours in the School of Communications. Members must be in the top 35 percent of their class, possess no less than a 3.0 overall GPA and a GPA of at least 3.25 in the School of Communications.
The new inductees are:
Emily Adams
Elizabeth Amonette
Allison Andrews
Grace Baldridge
Elisabeth Ballard
Alyssa Baxter
Emily Bird
Kristen Calabro
Madeline Coda
Cristina Crawford
Kara Damiano
Emily De Vito
Joy DeBolt
Sarah Deike
Erin Delaney
Grace Dimond
Kelsey Egan
Grace Elkus
Kayla Foley
Kate Giduz
Kensey Gooch
Audrey Horwitz
Carolina Howland
Ilana Israel
Tessa Jones
Meredith Kelly
Julie Klimberg
Kallay Lavoie
Michelle Leibel
Allyson Lord
Elliot Luke
Kara Malone
Grace Martin
Brian Mezerski
Megan Mungall
Caroline Olney
Jordan Only
Amanda Parker
Jessica Petrocchi
Jason Puckett
Kendall Quinn
Taylor Reneau
Katherine Saffelle
Katherine Sauter
Lindsey Schmidt
Emily Schuett
Hannah Seiler
Kelly Selong
Claire Semelka
Allison Shamon
Baron Smith
Julia Spencer
Chelsey Stark
Hadley Stecker
Michael Tahan
Benjamin Unger
Laura Van Drie
Peter Walpole
Jason Waterman
Christine Williams
Joseph Ziemba